First Bank & Trust Reduces Position in Morgan Stanley $MS

First Bank & Trust trimmed its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 40.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 5,251 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,588 shares during the period. First Bank & Trust’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $932,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital International Investors grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 27,321,214 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,343,523,000 after purchasing an additional 167,487 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.9% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 24,494,146 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,893,590,000 after purchasing an additional 448,960 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the second quarter worth about $2,234,883,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 6.1% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 14,260,650 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,267,847,000 after purchasing an additional 822,120 shares during the period. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group boosted its position in Morgan Stanley by 3.8% in the third quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 9,712,071 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,543,831,000 after buying an additional 354,871 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MS. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 9th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $177.00 to $189.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $207.00 price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Friday, January 16th. Wolfe Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $211.00 price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $187.14.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 30,330 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.62, for a total value of $5,569,194.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 280,481 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $51,501,921.22. The trade was a 9.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Michael A. Pizzi sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.55, for a total transaction of $3,691,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 127,872 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,598,777.60. This trade represents a 13.53% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 129,191 shares of company stock worth $23,736,506. Insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 0.1%

Morgan Stanley stock opened at $165.63 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $172.27 and its 200 day moving average price is $168.90. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.39. The firm has a market cap of $263.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.20. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $94.33 and a 52 week high of $192.68.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.28 by $0.40. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 16.78% and a net margin of 14.09%.The company had revenue of $17.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.69 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.22 earnings per share. Morgan Stanley’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 13th. Investors of record on Friday, January 30th were paid a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is currently 39.18%.

Key Stories Impacting Morgan Stanley

Here are the key news stories impacting Morgan Stanley this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Strong reported results and recent beats reinforce MS’s core revenue and trading franchise — record 2025 revenue and a Q4 EPS beat underpin the firm’s fundamentals and fee-generation outlook. MS Beats Market Upswing
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley is in position for high‑profile investment‑banking mandates (SpaceX IPO chatter), which could support future IB fees and client pipeline if those deals proceed. SpaceX IPO Prediction Markets
• Positive Sentiment: Ongoing expansion into digital assets and tokenization (ETF filings, platform hires) supports new revenue lines — a strategic growth angle investors may value over the medium term. Morgan Stanley on Crypto Move
• Neutral Sentiment: Firm research is feeding market flow — Morgan Stanley’s AlphaWise smartphone data (positive for AAPL) and other thematic notes keep MS visible as a go‑to research house, which is revenue‑supportive but not an immediate stock catalyst. AlphaWise iPhone Survey
• Neutral Sentiment: Thought leadership/webinars (AI + software, AlphaSense partnership) help reputation and institutional engagement; useful for longer‑term positioning but not a direct short‑term earnings driver. AI vs Software Webinar
• Neutral Sentiment: Routine analyst activity — MS naming Intuit a top pick and other coverage moves show normal sell‑side reweighting that can influence sector flow but is company‑agnostic for MS’s own share price. Intuit Top Pick
• Negative Sentiment: Third‑party downgrade: Zacks lowered MS from “strong‑buy” to “hold” this morning — analyst tone and any rating drift can remove marginal buyers and pressure the stock. Zacks Downgrade/TickerReport
• Negative Sentiment: Sentiment disconnect: coverage noted that record earnings did not prevent a sharp pullback in shares (retail/social sentiment and short‑term positioning weighed), showing earnings beats alone aren’t calming speculative outflows. Record Earnings but Shares Fell
• Negative Sentiment: Macro risk: Morgan Stanley warned about a hawkish Fed outlook and higher‑for‑longer rate risk — a backdrop that can hurt risk appetite, raise funding costs and add volatility to MS trading and wealth‑management flows. MS Fed Rate Warning

Morgan Stanley Profile

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) is a global financial services firm headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1935 by Henry S. Morgan and Harold Stanley, the company provides a broad range of investment banking, securities, wealth management and investment management services to corporations, governments, institutions and individual investors. Leadership has been guided by a senior executive team and board of directors; James P. Gorman has served as the company’s chief executive and chairman in recent years.

The firm’s primary business activities are organized around three principal businesses: Institutional Securities, Wealth Management and Investment Management.